Method and apparatus for E-TFC selection for uplink MIMO communication

ABSTRACT

One or more scheduling grants may be received from a Node B related to a plurality of uplink MIMO streams. A determination may be made as to a primary transport power and a primary transport block size for a primary stream. A secondary transmit power and a secondary transport block size for a secondary stream may also be determined.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119

The present Application for Patent claims priority to the followingprovisional patent applications:

-   -   U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/596,682 entitled “Method and        Apparatus for Managing Uplink Multiple-Input Multiple-Output at        a Media Access Control Layer” filed Feb. 8, 2012;    -   U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/612,541 entitled “Signaling        Grants, E-TFC Selection and Power Scaling for UL MIMO” filed        Mar. 19, 2012; and    -   U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/646,241 entitled “E-TFC        Selection and Serving Grant Interpretation for UL Multiple-Input        Multiple-Output (MIMO)” filed May 11, 2012,        each of which is assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby        expressly incorporated by reference herein.

REFERENCE TO CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS FOR PATENT

The present Application for Patent is related to the followingco-pending U.S. Patent

Applications:

-   -   “Method and Apparatus for Scheduling Resources for Uplink MIMO        Communication” Ser. No. 13/760,252, filed concurrently herewith,        assigned to the assignee hereof, and expressly incorporated by        reference herein; and    -   “Method and Apparatus for Enhancing Resource Allocation for        Uplink MIMO Communication” Ser. No. 13/760,561, filed        concurrently herewith, assigned to the assignee hereof, and        expressly incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wirelesscommunication systems, and more particularly to uplink multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO).

2. Background

Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide variouscommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple accessnetworks, support communications for multiple users by sharing theavailable network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio accessnetwork (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phonetechnology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various airinterface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access(W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), andTime Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). TheUMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such asHigh Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transferspeeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.

Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system cansimultaneously support communication for multiple user equipment devices(UE). Each UE communicates with one or more base stations, such as aNode B via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forwardlink (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the Node Bs tothe UEs, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communicationlink from the UEs to the Node Bs. This communication link may beestablished via a single-in-single-out, multiple-in-single-out or amultiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system. Thus, for example, the systemcan utilize downlink and/or uplink MIMO to facilitate improvedthroughput, transmission reliability, communication range, and/or thelike.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects inorder to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary isnot an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nordelineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Various considerations regarding uplink multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) considerations are presented herein. For example, mechanisms fordetermining whether to provide multiple uplink streams to a userequipment (UE), enhanced transport format combination (E-TFC) for themultiple streams, power scaling and transport block size (TBS) selectionfor the multiple streams, outer-loop power control, and otherconsiderations are addressed herein.

In one aspect, a method for communicating using multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) in a wireless network is described herein. Temethod comprises receiving one or more scheduling grants from a Node Brelating to a plurality of uplink streams in MIMO; determining a primarytransmit power and a primary transport block size (TBS) for a primarystream of the plurality of uplink streams; and determining a secondarytransmit power and a secondary TBS for a secondary stream of theplurality of uplink streams.

Other aspects include one or more of: a computer program product havinga computer-readable medium including at least one instruction operableto cause a computer to perform the above-described method; an apparatusincluding one or more means for performing the above-described method;and an apparatus having a memory in communication with a processor thatis configured to perform the above-described method.

These and other aspects of the disclosure will become more fullyunderstood upon a review of the detailed description, which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosed aspects will hereinafter be described in conjunction withthe appended drawings, provided to illustrate and not to limit thedisclosed aspects, wherein like designations denote like elements, andin which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of one aspect of a system forscheduling multiple uplink streams to a user equipment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of one aspect of a method of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of one aspect of a method of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of one aspect of a method of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus of FIG. 1 employing a processing system;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of atelecommunications system including aspects of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of an accessnetwork including aspects of the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a radioprotocol architecture for the user and control plane implemented bycomponents of the system of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a NodeB in communication with a UE in a telecommunications system, includingaspects of the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various configurations and isnot intended to represent the only configurations in which the conceptsdescribed herein may be practiced. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that these concepts may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well known structures and components areshown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Described herein are various aspects related to improving uplinkmultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications in a wirelessnetwork. Proposed are mechanisms for determining whether to allocatemultiple uplink streams to a user equipment (UE), determining an enhancetransport format combination (E-TFC) for the streams, power scaling andtransport block size (TBS) selection for the multiple streams,outer-loop power control, and similar considerations. For example, ascheduling algorithm can consider throughput at a UE as well as at theserving cell or related Node B in determining whether to assign multipleuplink streams to the UE. Rise-over-thermal (RoT) can also be controlledfor the multiple uplink carriers. As used herein, RoT refers to a ratiobetween the total interference received on a base station (Node B) andthe thermal noise of the base station.

Moreover, in an example, a Node B can assign E-TFCs for each streambased on a set of rules, which can be related to considerations of bothstreams in some examples. Also, the Node B can utilize newly definedE-TFCs for assigning to the streams that account for intricacies ofmultiple stream operation. The E-TFCs can have different statedefinitions, hybrid automatic repeat/request (HARQ) assignmentconsiderations, power scaling and TBS selection computations, etc.Additionally, considerations regarding outer-loop power control based onassignment of multiple streams are presented herein. The possiblescheduling assignments, E-TFC associations, power control factors, etc.can improve uplink MIMO performance in wireless networks. The describedconsiderations can be implemented at the media access control (MAC)layer at a UE, Node B, etc., in one example.

Referring to FIG. 1, in one aspect, a wireless communication system 10includes a user equipment (UE) 12 for communicating with a Node B 14 toreceive wireless network access. System 10 also optionally includes aRNC 16 for facilitating Node B access to the wireless network. Forexample, the Node B 14 can be substantially any Node B, such as amacrocell, picocell, or femtocell Node B, a mobile Node B, a relay, a UEthat communicates in a peer-to-peer or ad-hoc mode with UE 12, and/orsubstantially any component that schedules UEs for communicating in awireless network. Examples of a UE include a cellular phone, a smartphone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a notebook,a netbook, a smartbook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satelliteradio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a multimedia device, avideo device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, agame console, or any other similar functioning device.

UE 12 includes a scheduling grant receiving component 18 for obtainingone or more scheduling grants from a Node B for communicating in awireless network, an E-TFC selecting component 20 for associating uplinkstreams in the scheduling grants or related flows to an E-TFC, and acommunicating component 22 for transmitting over the uplink streams tothe Node B.

Node B 14 includes a scheduling component 24 for communicating one ormore scheduling grants to the UE 12 for one or multiple streams. Node B14 optionally includes a control channel decoding component 26 forobtaining feedback regarding the uplink streams, and/or a packetidentifier indicating component 28 for communicating an identifierrelated to a flow from which a packet is received to an RNC tofacilitate power control.

RNC 16 optionally includes a packet identifier receiving component 30for obtaining packet identifiers from a Node B 14 indicating a streamrelated to the packet, and/or a power controlling component 32 forimplementing outer-loop power control for a corresponding UE.

According to an example, UE 12 can request network access from Node B 14or can otherwise communicate therewith. Scheduling component 24 candetermine a scheduling grant for the UE 12 (e.g., upon initializingcommunications therewith or based on one or more detected events, suchas a request from the UE 12 for additional resources, etc). This caninclude determining whether to grant multiple uplink streams to the UE12. The scheduling component 24 can consider at least one of maximizingthroughput of the UE 12 or maximizing throughput of Node B 14 or arelated cell in determining whether to assign multiple uplink streams toUE 12. For example, where one user is scheduled by Node B 14 in eachTTI, the scheduling component 24 can assign multiple uplink streams toUE 12 based on determining that the UE throughput would increase by theadditional uplink stream(s) without significantly impairing throughputat Node B 14.

Moreover, for example, scheduling component 24 can ensure combined datarates over the multiple streams are proportionally fair among multipleUEs. Also, scheduling component 24 can schedule the additional streamsto be at least at a minimum throughput. Moreover, scheduling component24 can schedule the additional streams based on a relationship to theprimary stream (e.g., at a lower throughput than the primary stream). Insome aspects, scheduling component 24 may assign a primary schedulinggrant, which may be used to determine a transport block size for aprimary stream, in addition to a secondary scheduling grant, which maybe used to determine a transport block size for a secondary stream. Asused herein, primary stream refers to a transmission stream used tocarry a primary data channel E-DPDCH, and secondary stream refers to atransmission stream used to carry a secondary data channel S-E-DPDCH. Inany case, scheduling grant receiving component 18 can obtain the grantfor one or more uplink streams from Node B 14 and communicatingcomponent 22 can accordingly communicate with Node B 14 over the one ormore uplink streams. The scheduling component 24 can assign the multiplestreams to different users based on their channel conditions.

In addition, scheduling component 24 can control RoT at Node B 14 toensure it does not exceed an RoT threshold. In this example, schedulingcomponent 24 can control an effective RoT caused by a given stream,which corresponds to the RoT over the given stream after interferencesuppression (e.g., by a linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE)receiver or other interference cancellation scheme). For example, if theRoT is over a threshold, scheduling component 24 can reduce a throughputor grant size an offending stream, which can occur based on the rules ofscheduling above (e.g., additional streams cannot have a throughputbelow the minimum, additional streams may have lower throughput than theprimary stream, etc.).

Spatial coloring, or directionality, in the interference caused bymultiple stream assignment can bring new issues to inter-cellinterference coordination. This issue may exist in legacy uplink systemswhere each UE only transmits one stream. As long as the totalinterference from a cell comes from multiple UEs, directionality in thetotal interference tends to be averaged out. However, directionalinterference may create more severe problems in uplink MIMO, where asingle UE may dominate the total interference from a cell. Accordingly,in some aspects, non-serving Node Bs (not shown) of UE 12 are permittedto communicate enhanced relative grant channel (E-RGCH) grants to UE 12to cause decrease in transmit power to protect the non-serving Node Bsfrom interference by UE 12. Thus, for example, scheduling component 24can infer a non-serving E-RGCH based on UE 12 behavior, where the UEselects smaller traffic-to-pilot (T2P) ratios and/or transport blocksizes (TBS) for one or more assigned uplink streams, schedulingcomponent 24 can assume UE 12 is limited by inter-cell interferencecaused to a non-serving Node B. As used herein, a T2P ratio refers to anoffset of the data traffic channel to the pilot channel. Thus, in oneexample, scheduling component 24 can decrease throughput for UE 12 andgrant the additional throughput up to a remaining RoT margin to otherUEs.

In some aspects, an E-RGCH received from a non-serving node may be usedto control the primary stream TBS and the power level of both theprimary stream and a secondary stream. In this approach, the decodingperformance of the secondary stream is impacted whenever the power levelis reduced. However, the rate-adaptation margin loop at the serving NodeB is used to lower the secondary stream TBS as needed to maintain itsdecoding error rate. In other aspects, the non-serving E-RGCH is alsoused to modify the secondary stream grant, resulting in a new secondarystream TBS, thus aiding the margin loop in maintaining the decodingperformance on the secondary stream.

Additionally, for example, E-TFC selecting component 20 can assign anE-TFC to each stream received in the scheduling grant(s) from Node B 14by scheduling grant receiving component 18, or flows related thereto.This can occur at the MAC layer, in one example. The E-TFC can defineconstraints for communicating over the primary and/or additional uplinkstreams assigned to UE 12 based on available transmission resources, forexample. UE 12 can support sets of states for the E-TFCs selectable bythe E-TFC selecting component 20 for given streams.

For example, the sets of states can include a first set related to theprimary stream of two streams, a second set of states related to thesecondary stream of two streams, a third set for one stream only, etc.For example, given n streams, UE 12 can maintain n+(n−1)+(n−2)+ . . .+(n −(n−1)) sets of states—one for each possible stream in a givenstream configuration. Each state in a given set of states can indicatewhether a corresponding payload is supported or blocked over thecorresponding stream configuration, which can be referred to herein asE-TFC restriction. The states can be modified by the UE 12 based onresources available for communicating with Node B 14 (e.g., in aprevious transmission period), and UE 12 can obey the states whencommunicating with Node B 14. Thus, for example, E-TFC selectingcomponent 20 can select an E-TFC for the streams related to thescheduling grant(s) received by scheduling grant receiving component 18,and communicating component 22 can determine whether to transmit datafor one or more of the streams to Node B 14 at a MAC layer, based on theassociated E-TFC and the corresponding set of states (e.g., and/or thestreams to be utilized).

In another example, E-TFCs selectable by E-TFC selecting component 20can have associated minimum T2P/TBS for additional streams, such thatthe communicating component 22 cannot transmit over the additionalstreams using associated T2P or TBS that are below the minimum (and thuscommunications over these streams can be cancelled). Also, the minimumE-TFC set (e.g., a set of E-TFCs that can transmit when UE 12 power isbelow a threshold) can be maintained for the primary stream or onestream.

Moreover, where n HARQ processes can be used by UE 12 for retransmittingcommunications over streams indicated in the scheduling grants, the HARQindex for the primary stream can be 0 to n −1, and for the secondarystream can be n to 2n −1(and for tertiary stream can be 2n to 3n −1,etc.). Where communicating component 22 transmits uplink communicationsover two streams, for example, the HARQ indices can be paired, such thatfor index k, where 0<=k <n, of the primary stream, the secondary streamcan have HARQ index k+n. Communicating component 22 can use theappropriate HARQ index for retransmitting communications from the firstand/or second streams, depending on the state in the set of states ofthe selected E-TFC corresponding to the configuration of streams, etc.In an aspect, the communicating component 22 may apply HARQ interlaceactivation or deactivation for the primary stream and the secondarystream using the paired HARQ indices.

Additionally, communicating component 22 can keep an original TBS of thestream for retransmitting data over the stream based on theconfiguration of streams. For example, for retransmission over a primarystream where two streams are assigned and utilized according to theconfiguration of streams, communicating component 22 can utilize the TBSfor the retransmission that is similar to that used over the primarystream to initially transmit. Communicating component 22 can furthertransmit the secondary stream where allowed according to the grant,power, and data, as described previously, when considering theretransmission of the primary stream. In another example, forretransmission over a secondary stream where two streams are assignedand utilized according to the configuration of streams, communicatingcomponent 22 can utilize the TBS for the retransmission that is similarto that used over the secondary stream to initially transmit. In thisexample, the communicating component 22 can also communicate a newtransmission over the primary stream so as to not violate possibleconstraints regarding the relationship between the secondary streamthroughput and primary stream throughput, as described. Throughput isalso referred to herein as T2P/TBS, as the T2P/TBS of a stream mayresult in the throughput thereof In another example, the retransmissionof data from the secondary stream can occur on the primary stream as asingle stream transmission to the Node B 14.

Also, for example, UE 12 can update scheduling grants partly based onHARQ retransmissions. The scheduling grant updates can be independentper HARQ index. In an example, if the scheduling grant update for thesecondary stream is lower than the minimum TBS, as described, a zerogrant size can be used for the secondary stream. In another example, ifthe primary stream has no data for transmission, the scheduling grantupdate on the primary stream can be zero, and the secondary stream grantupdate can be greater than zero despite constraints on the relationshipbetween the allowed primary and secondary throughput described above.

Communicating component 22 can also implement power scaling formultiple-stream transmissions (e.g., where the selected state in the setof states for the E-TFC allows transmission over more than just theprimary stream). Though described below in the context of two streams,more streams are possible for computing power scaling for the streams.It is to be appreciated that the communicating component 22 can givepriority to a stream that is retransmitting. In one example,communicating component 22 can compute the power for two streams basedon the primary stream (e.g., based on the T2P/TBS of a retransmission ora related scheduling grant of the primary stream). Where retransmissionoccurs on the secondary stream, however, this may cause packet failurewhere the original T2P/TBS is large for the streams, and then thescheduling grant for the first stream results in a smaller T2P/TBS. Inthis example, the retransmission for the secondary stream may requirethe original T2P/TBS, but may be assigned the smaller T2P/TBS of thescheduling grant on the primary stream.

In another example, communicating component 22 can compute the powerscaling for the streams based on the larger power computed for one ofthe streams. In this example, the computed power scaling for the primarystream can be based on the T2P/TBS for retransmission or for a receivedscheduling grant. The computed power scaling for the secondary streamcan be based on the T2P/TBS of a scheduling grant for a newtransmission, or for retransmission can be based on the previous poweror the previous scheduling grant when the packet started. For example,if the packet is for retransmission on the secondary stream, thecomputed power for the secondary stream corresponds to the power on theprimary stream when the packet to retransmit is originally formed. As analternative, if the packet is for retransmission on the secondarystream, the computed power for the secondary stream corresponds to thepower that would be used by the primary stream if SG on the servingstream is fully utilized. As another alternative, if the packet is forretransmission on the secondary stream, the computed power for thesecondary stream corresponds to the power used in the previoustransmission attempt. The communicating component 22 can choose themaximum of the computed power scaling for the primary stream and thecomputed power scaling for the secondary stream as the power scaling forboth streams.

If there is a new packet on the secondary stream, in one example, thecommunicating component 22 can select a T2P/TBS for the secondary streambased on scheduling grant and the E-TFC restriction, described above. Ifthe minimum T2P/TBS is below a threshold value, communicating component22 may not utilize the secondary stream for communicating. Accordingly,the set of associated states may indicate that the secondary stream isblocked based on a determination that the secondary TBS is less than aminimum secondary TBS for the secondary stream. Thus, the communicatingcomponent 22 chooses the T2P/TBS of the primary stream based on the setof states in the selected E-TFC corresponding to one stream only, thescheduled grant, and/or the data (e.g., a T2P/TBS sufficient fortransmitting the data over the grant with no other streams to consider).The communicating component 22 can also allow the secondary pilottransmission without the second data stream, where the power for thesecondary pilot is at an offset to the power for the primary pilot. TheT2P for the minimum TBS should be chosen so that dynamic switchingbetween an on/off state of the secondary stream where the T2P/TBS isabove/below a threshold does not cause a large oscillation in the powerfor the secondary pilot.

In another example, non-scheduled grant can be applied to both streamsto allow at least a minimum transmission to Node B 14. For example, thecommunicating component 22 can apply the non-scheduled grant startingwith the primary stream, and data can be filled according to the T2P/TBSof the non-scheduled grant on the primary stream and then to additionalstreams. Moreover, given the multiple streams, the UE 12 can have up toa similar number of E-RGCHs on both Node B 14 and one or morenon-serving Node Bs.

Communicating component 22 can also communicate feedback regarding thescheduling grants to Node B 14. For example, the communicating component22 can transmit a happy bit in enhanced dedicated physical controlchannel (E-DPCCH) and/or secondary E-DPCCH (S-E-DPCCH), which can be thesame happy bit value in both cases. As used herein, happy bit refers toan indicator transmitted from UE 22 to Node B 14 indicating whether theuplink data rate allocated to the UE is sufficient, given the amount ofdata in the UE's buffer. For example, communicating component 22 cancompute the happy bit based on the combined data rate and/or power onall streams. Control channel decoding component 26 can obtain and decodeone of the happy bits and utilize the happy bit to determine whether tomodify the scheduling grants of the streams. Communicating component 22can also transmit scheduling information (SI) reports for both streamsto Node B 14. The SI report can include power headroom informationconsidering the power of the E-DPCCH and S-E-DPCCH, for example.Additionally, the control channel decoding component 26 can implementNULL detection (e.g., determining whether a channel is in use) forvarious control channels (e.g., E-AGCH, E-RGCH, E-DPCCH, etc.) since thecommunicating component 22 may not utilize secondary or other additionalstreams in the grants for a given transmission, as described. Also, inone example, control channel decoding component 26 can decode controldata from UE 12 based in part on the schedule grants, the minimumT2P/TBS, and perhaps a single happy bit representing the one or morestreams.

In another example, RNC 16 can implement an outer loop power controlloop to adjust power of UE 12 based on data received therefrom. In oneexample, power controlling component 32 can control power of UE 12 basedon data received only over the primary stream. In this example, packetidentifier indicating component 28 can include a stream identifier forpackets from UE 12 provided to RNC 16. In this example, packetidentifier receiving component 30 can determine a stream identifier forpackets obtained from Node B 14 related to UE 12. Power controllingcomponent 32 can consider packets having a stream identifier related tothe primary stream for controlling power of UE 12. In another example,power controlling component 32 can control power of UE 12 based onpackets from all streams, and thus signaling the stream identifier isnot required in this example. Moreover, in one example, powercontrolling component 32 can use two or more power loops, one for eachstream. In this example, since one or more streams may not be utilized,packet identifier indicating component 28 can similarly include a streamidentifier in packets communicated to the RNC 16. Thus, the RNC 16 candetermine whether packets are received for a given stream (and thuswhether the power loop for the stream should be initialized).

In any case, power controlling component 32 can transmit power controlcommands to

UE 12 (e.g., via Node B 14). For example, the power control commands canindicate whether to increase or decrease a transmit power. Communicatingcomponent 22 can adjust the power substantially equally for the streamsbased on the power control commands. For example, if after applyingpower adjustments and gain factors to E-DPCCH and S-E-DPCCH, the powerwould exceed a maximum allowed power, communicating component 22 canreduce the enhanced dedicated physical data channel (E-DPDCH) andsecondary E-DPDCH (S-E-DPDCH) gain factors by an equal scaling factor sothe total transmit power is equal to the maximum allowed power. In oneexample, the scaling factor can be computed based on the primary stream(e.g., based on a scaling factor to achieve the power over the primarystream). In addition, if communicating component 22 determinesE-TFCI_(i) is greater than E-TFCI_(ec,boost), which is the E-TFCidentifier (E-TFCI) threshold beyond which E-DPCCH power is boosted toprovide additional reference signal, can reduce only the E-DPDCH gainfactors according to the scaling factors, and transmit E-DPCCH using theoriginal power. Similarly, if S-E-DPDCH is used for the extra referencechannel for the secondary stream, E-TFCI_(ec,boost) for the secondstream can be used, and if S-E-DPCCH is boosted, communicating component22 can reduce the gain of the S-E-DPDCH according to the scalingfactors.

Communicating component 22 can apply additional scaling to totaltransmit power to reach a maximum allowed power if: (1) a DPDCH isconfigured and the total transmit power would still exceed the maximumallowed value even though discontinuous transmit (DTX) is used on allE-DPDCHs; or (2) no DPDCH is configured and the total transmit powerwould still exceed the maximum allowed value even though a gain factorfor all k is at a minimum gain factor. Furthermore, communicatingcomponent 22 can further scale the total transmit power according to adefined power ratio between DPCCH and DPDCH.

Referring to FIG. 2, in one aspect, a method 40 for communicating overmultiple streams in uplink MIMO is illustrated. For explanatorypurposes, method 40 will be discussed with reference to the abovedescribed FIG. 1. It should be understood that in other implementationsother systems and/or UEs, NodeBs, or RNCs comprising differentcomponents than those illustrated in FIG. 1 may be used in implementingmethod 40 of FIG. 2.

At 42, scheduling grant receiving component 18 may receive one or morescheduling grants relating to a plurality of uplink streams in MIMO froma Node B scheduling component 24. For example, scheduling grantreceiving component 18 may receive the scheduling grants over a controlchannel for assigning resources from the Node B. The scheduling grantscan be per stream, such that a scheduling grant is received for each ofthe uplink streams.

At 43, selecting component 20 may select an E-TFC that is used todetermine HARQ resources for retransmitting data for primary orsecondary streams, receive scheduling grant updates based on HARQretransmissions, determine power scaling for transmissions over theplurality of streams, application of non-scheduled grants over theplurality of streams, and/or the like, as described in further detailabove. In addition, the e-TFC selecting component 20 can configure grantchannels per uplink stream, a common happy bit for the plurality ofuplink streams can be communicated to the Node B, and/or the like, asdescribed.

At 44, a communicating component 22 may compute a primary transmit poweror a primary TBS for a primary stream of the plurality of uplinkstreams, and at 46, the communicating component 22 may determine asecondary transmit power or a secondary TBS for a secondary stream ofthe plurality of uplink streams. As described, the communicatingcomponent 22 may determine the primary transmit power and the secondarytransmit power based on the selected E-TFC for the uplink streams and/ora related set of states corresponding to whether communications canoccur over the uplink streams. For example, where power or resources areavailable, the communication component 22 may compute transmit power andTBS as values sufficient for transmitting over the primary and secondarystreams. In some cases, however, the states of an E-TFC may not allowfor transmission over the primary and secondary streams (e.g., or atleast may not allow a sufficient secondary TBS for communicating overthe secondary stream) depending on available resources. In an aspect, ifthe secondary stream is not transmitted, the power allocated to thesecondary stream is usable by the primary stream. In another aspect, ifthe secondary stream is not transmitted, the power allocated to thesecondary stream is not usable by the primary stream.

At 48, in some aspects, communication component 22 may receive one ormore enhanced relative grant channels (E-RGCH) from one or more Node B.For example, scheduling component 24 of a serving Node B may provide afirst E-RGCH, and a scheduling component of one or more non-serving NodeBs may provide additional E-RGCHs. As described herein, permitting anon-serving Node B to communicate an E-RGCH to a UE can cause a decreasein transmit power to protect the non-serving Node B from interference bythe UE.

Referring to FIG. 3, in one aspect, illustrated is a method 50 forassigning multiple uplink streams to a UE in a wireless network. Forexplanatory purposes, method 50 will be discussed with reference to theabove described FIG. 1. It should be understood that in otherimplementations other systems and/or UEs, NodeBs, or RNCs comprisingdifferent components than those illustrated in FIG. 1 may be used inimplementing method 50 of FIG. 3.

At 51, in an aspect, Node B 14 may receive a single happy bit for theone or multiple streams.

At 52, scheduling component 24, shown in FIG. 1, may determine ascheduling grant for a UE comprising multiple streams, which in someaspects may be based in part on whether the scheduling grant increasesthroughput at the UE or Node B (e.g., Node B 14) or a related cell. Forexample, both considerations can be taken into account in determiningwhether to grant multiple uplink streams to the UE, as described.

At 54, the scheduling component 24 may transmit the scheduling grant tothe UE. For example, this can occur over one or more grant channels.

Optionally, at 56, scheduling component 24 may manage RoT for themultiple streams.

As described, for example, the scheduling component 24 may manage theRoT for a stream based in part on detecting UE behavior over the stream.For example, where the UE requests smaller T2P/TBS though it hassufficient power to utilize more T2P/TBS, the scheduling component 24can infer that the UE is causing interference to a non-serving Node B.Thus, at 56, the scheduling component 24 may manage the RoT bycommunicating a smaller scheduling grant to the UE while repurposing theresulting RoT margin to other UEs.

FIG. 4, in one aspect, illustrates a method 60 for adjusting power of aUE communicating over multiple streams.

At 62, packet identifier receiving component 30 may receive packetscomprising a stream identifier indicating a stream corresponding to agiven packet from a Node B. For example, the stream identifier cancorrespond to a stream of a given UE, where the UE communicates thepackets to the Node B, and the Node B forwards the packets for providingto a core network.

At 64, power controlling component 32 may use packets corresponding to astream to compute a target power for power control commands for the UE.For example, this can include computing power set point, which is thetarget signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio for the UE. Thus, thepower controlling component 32 may use the packets for a single streamof the UE to compute the set point. It is to be appreciated that packetsof other identifiers can be ignored for power control purposes orutilized to compute power control for the specific stream, in oneexample.

At 66, the power controlling component 32 can communicate the powercontrol commands to the UE. For example, this communication can occurthrough the Node B over a channel dedicated to power control commands.

FIG. 5 is a top level block diagram illustrating an example of ahardware implementation for an apparatus 100 employing a processingsystem 114. For example, apparatus 100 may be specially programmed orotherwise configured to operate as UE 12, Node B 14, RNC 16 , etc., asdescribed above. In this example, the processing system 114 may beimplemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus102. The bus 102 may include any number of interconnecting buses andbridges depending on the specific application of the processing system114 and the overall design constraints. The bus 102 links togethervarious circuits including one or more processors, represented generallyby the processor 104, and computer-readable media, represented generallyby the computer-readable medium 106. The bus 102 may also link variousother circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators,and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, andtherefore, will not be described any further. A bus interface 108provides an interface between the bus 102 and a transceiver 110. Thetransceiver 110 provides a means for communicating with various otherapparatus over a transmission medium. Depending upon the nature of theapparatus, a user interface 112 (e.g., keypad, display, speaker,microphone, joystick) may also be provided.

The processor 104 is responsible for managing the bus 102 and generalprocessing, including the execution of software stored on thecomputer-readable medium 106. The software, when executed by theprocessor 104, causes the processing system 114 to perform the variousfunctions described infra for any particular apparatus. Thecomputer-readable medium 106 may also be used for storing data that ismanipulated by the processor 104 when executing software. In an aspect,for example, processor 104 and/or computer-readable medium 106 may bespecially programmed or otherwise configured to operate as UE 12, Node B14, etc., as described above.

As noted above, apparatus 100 may be specifically programmed orotherwise configured to operate as UE 12, Node B 14, RNC 16, etc. Forexample, processor 14, in conjunction with bus interface 108 andcomputer-readable medium 106 may be used to implement components 18 and20 of UE 16. Processor 14, bus interface 108, computer-readable medium106, and transceiver 110 may be configured to implement component 22 ofUE 16. When apparatus 100 is operating as Node B 14, processor 14 inconjunction with bus interface 108 and computer-readable medium 106 maybe configured to implement components 24, 26, and 28 of Node B 16.Likewise, when apparatus 100 is operating as RNC 16, processor 14 inconjunction with bus interface 108 and computer-readable medium 106 maybe configured to implement components 30 and 32 of RNC 16.

The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may beimplemented across a broad variety of telecommunication systems, networkarchitectures, and communication standards.

By way of example and without limitation, the aspects of the presentdisclosure illustrated in FIG. 6 are presented with reference to a UMTSsystem 200 employing a W-CDMA air interface. A UMTS network includesthree interacting domains: a Core Network (CN) 204, a UMTS TerrestrialRadio Access Network (UTRAN) 202, and User Equipment (UE) 210. In thisexample, the UTRAN 202 provides various wireless services includingtelephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and/or other services.The UTRAN 202 may include a plurality of Radio Network Subsystems (RNSs)such as an RNS 207, each controlled by a respective Radio NetworkController (RNC) such as an RNC 206. Here, the UTRAN 202 may include anynumber of RNCs 206 and RNSs 207 in addition to the RNCs 206 and RNSs 207illustrated herein. The RNC 206 is an apparatus responsible for, amongother things, assigning, reconfiguring and releasing radio resourceswithin the RNS 207. The RNC 206 may be interconnected to other RNCs (notshown) in the UTRAN 202 through various types of interfaces such as adirect physical connection, a virtual network, or the like, using anysuitable transport network.

Communication between a UE 210 and a Node B 208 may be considered asincluding a physical (PHY) layer and a medium access control (MAC)layer. Further, communication between a UE 210 and an RNC 206 by way ofa respective Node B 208 may be considered as including a radio resourcecontrol (RRC) layer. In the instant specification, the PHY layer may beconsidered layer 1; the MAC layer may be considered layer 2; and the RRClayer may be considered layer 3. Information hereinbelow utilizesterminology introduced in the RRC Protocol Specification, 3GPP TS 25.331v9.1.0, incorporated herein by reference. Further, for example, UE 210may be specially programmed or otherwise configured to operate as UE 12,and/or Node B 208 as Node B 14, as described above.

The geographic region covered by the RNS 207 may be divided into anumber of cells, with a radio transceiver apparatus serving each cell. Aradio transceiver apparatus is commonly referred to as a Node B in UMTSapplications, but may also be referred to by those skilled in the art asa base station (BS), a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio basestation, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic serviceset (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), or someother suitable terminology. For clarity, three Node Bs 208 are shown ineach RNS 207; however, the RNSs 207 may include any number of wirelessNode Bs. The Node Bs 208 provide wireless access points to a CN 204 forany number of UEs 210, which may be mobile apparatuses. Examples of amobile apparatus include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a sessioninitiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a notebook, a netbook, asmartbook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, aglobal positioning system (GPS) device, a multimedia device, a videodevice, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a gameconsole, or any other similar functioning device. The mobile apparatusis commonly referred to as a UE in UMTS applications, but may also bereferred to by those skilled in the art as a mobile station, asubscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, aremote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wirelesscommunications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, anaccess terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remoteterminal, a handset, a terminal, a user agent, a mobile client, aclient, or some other suitable terminology. In a UMTS system, the UE 210may further include a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) 211,which contains a user's subscription information to a network. Forillustrative purposes, one UE 210 is shown in communication with anumber of the Node Bs 208. The DL, also called the forward link, refersto the communication link from a Node B 208 to a UE 210, and the UL,also called the reverse link, refers to the communication link from a UE210 to a Node B 208.

The CN 204 interfaces with one or more access networks, such as theUTRAN 202. As shown, the CN 204 is a GSM core network. However, as thoseskilled in the art will recognize, the various concepts presentedthroughout this disclosure may be implemented in a RAN, or othersuitable access network, to provide UEs with access to types of CNsother than GSM networks.

The CN 204 includes a circuit-switched (CS) domain and a packet-switched(PS) domain. Some of the circuit-switched elements are a Mobile servicesSwitching Centre (MSC), a Visitor location register (VLR) and a GatewayMSC. Packet-switched elements include a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)and a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). Some network elements, like EIR,HLR, VLR and AuC may be shared by both of the circuit-switched andpacket-switched domains. In the illustrated example, the CN 204 supportscircuit-switched services with a MSC 212 and a GMSC 214. In someapplications, the GMSC 214 may be referred to as a media gateway (MGW).One or more RNCs, such as the RNC 206, may be connected to the MSC 212.The MSC 212 is an apparatus that controls call setup, call routing, andUE mobility functions. The MSC 212 also includes a VLR that containssubscriber-related information for the duration that a UE is in thecoverage area of the MSC 212. The GMSC 214 provides a gateway throughthe MSC 212 for the UE to access a circuit-switched network 216. TheGMSC 214 includes a home location register (HLR) 215 containingsubscriber data, such as the data reflecting the details of the servicesto which a particular user has subscribed. The HLR is also associatedwith an authentication center (AuC) that contains subscriber-specificauthentication data. When a call is received for a particular UE, theGMSC 214 queries the HLR 215 to determine the UE's location and forwardsthe call to the particular MSC serving that location.

The CN 204 also supports packet-data services with a serving GPRSsupport node (SGSN) 218 and a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) 220.GPRS, which stands for General Packet Radio Service, is designed toprovide packet-data services at speeds higher than those available withstandard circuit-switched data services. The GGSN 220 provides aconnection for the UTRAN 202 to a packet-based network 222. Thepacket-based network 222 may be the Internet, a private data network, orsome other suitable packet-based network. The primary function of theGGSN 220 is to provide the UEs 210 with packet-based networkconnectivity. Data packets may be transferred between the GGSN 220 andthe UEs 210 through the SGSN 218, which performs primarily the samefunctions in the packet-based domain as the MSC 212 performs in thecircuit-switched domain.

An air interface for UMTS may utilize a spread spectrum Direct-SequenceCode Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) system. The spread spectrumDS-CDMA spreads user data through multiplication by a sequence ofpseudorandom bits called chips. The “wideband” W-CDMA air interface forUMTS is based on such direct sequence spread spectrum technology andadditionally calls for a frequency division duplexing (FDD). FDD uses adifferent carrier frequency for the UL and DL between a Node B 208 and aUE 210. Another air interface for UMTS that utilizes DS-CDMA, and usestime division duplexing (TDD), is the TD-SCDMA air interface. Thoseskilled in the art will recognize that although various examplesdescribed herein may refer to a W-CDMA air interface, the underlyingprinciples may be equally applicable to a TD-SCDMA air interface.

An HSPA air interface includes a series of enhancements to the 3G/W-CDMAair interface, facilitating greater throughput and reduced latency.Among other modifications over prior releases, HSPA utilizes hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ), shared channel transmission, andadaptive modulation and coding. The standards that define HSPA includeHSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) and HSUPA (high speed uplinkpacket access, also referred to as enhanced uplink, or EUL).

HSDPA utilizes as its transport channel the high-speed downlink sharedchannel (HS-DSCH). The HS-DSCH is implemented by three physicalchannels: the high-speed physical downlink shared channel (HS-PDSCH),the high-speed shared control channel (HS-SCCH), and the high-speeddedicated physical control channel (HS-DPCCH).

Among these physical channels, the HS-DPCCH carries the HARQ ACK/NACKsignaling on the uplink to indicate whether a corresponding packettransmission was decoded successfully. That is, with respect to thedownlink, the UE 210 provides feedback to the node B 208 over theHS-DPCCH to indicate whether it correctly decoded a packet on thedownlink.

HS-DPCCH further includes feedback signaling from the UE 210 to assistthe node B 208 in taking the right decision in terms of modulation andcoding scheme and precoding weight selection, this feedback signalingincluding the CQI and PCI.

“HSPA Evolved” or HSPA+ is an evolution of the HSPA standard thatincludes MIMO and 64-QAM, enabling increased throughput and higherperformance. That is, in an aspect of the disclosure, the node B 208and/or the UE 210 may have multiple antennas supporting MIMO technology.The use of MIMO technology enables the node B 208 to exploit the spatialdomain to support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and transmitdiversity.

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) is a term generally used to referto multi-antenna technology, that is, multiple transmit antennas(multiple inputs to the channel) and multiple receive antennas (multipleoutputs from the channel). MIMO systems generally enhance datatransmission performance, enabling diversity gains to reduce multipathfading and increase transmission quality, and spatial multiplexing gainsto increase data throughput.

Spatial multiplexing may be used to transmit different streams of datasimultaneously on the same frequency. The data steams may be transmittedto a single UE 210 to increase the data rate or to multiple UEs 210 toincrease the overall system capacity. This is achieved by spatiallyprecoding each data stream and then transmitting each spatially precodedstream through a different transmit antenna on the downlink. Thespatially precoded data streams arrive at the UE(s) 210 with differentspatial signatures, which enables each of the UE(s) 210 to recover theone or more the data streams destined for that UE 210. On the uplink,each UE 210 may transmit one or more spatially precoded data streams,which enables the node B 208 to identify the source of each spatiallyprecoded data stream.

Spatial multiplexing may be used when channel conditions are good. Whenchannel conditions are less favorable, beamforming may be used to focusthe transmission energy in one or more directions, or to improvetransmission based on characteristics of the channel. This may beachieved by spatially precoding a data stream for transmission throughmultiple antennas. To achieve good coverage at the edges of the cell, asingle stream beamforming transmission may be used in combination withtransmit diversity.

Generally, for MIMO systems utilizing n transmit antennas, n transportblocks may be transmitted simultaneously over the same carrier utilizingthe same channelization code. Note that the different transport blockssent over the n transmit antennas may have the same or differentmodulation and coding schemes from one another.

On the other hand, Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) generally refersto a system utilizing a single transmit antenna (a single input to thechannel) and multiple receive antennas (multiple outputs from thechannel). Thus, in a SIMO system, a single transport block is sent overthe respective carrier.

Referring to FIG. 7, an access network 300 in a UTRAN architecture isillustrated. The multiple access wireless communication system includesmultiple cellular regions (cells), including cells 302, 304, and 306,each of which may include one or more sectors. The multiple sectors canbe formed by groups of antennas with each antenna responsible forcommunication with UEs in a portion of the cell. For example, in cell302, antenna groups 312, 314, and 316 may each correspond to a differentsector. In cell 304, antenna groups 318, 320, and 322 each correspond toa different sector. In cell 306, antenna groups 324, 326, and 328 eachcorrespond to a different sector. The cells 302, 304 and 306 may includeseveral wireless communication devices, e.g., User Equipment or UEs,which may be in communication with one or more sectors of each cell 302,304 or 306. For example, UEs 330 and 332 may be in communication withNode B 342, UEs 334 and 336 may be in communication with Node B 344, andUEs 338 and 340 can be in communication with Node B 346. Here, each NodeB 342, 344, 346 is configured to provide an access point to a CN 204(see FIG. 6) for all the UEs 330, 332, 334, 336, 338, 340 in therespective cells 302, 304, and 306. For example, in an aspect, the UEsof FIG. 7 may be specially programmed or otherwise configured to operateas UE 12, and/or Node Bs as Node B 14, as described above.

As the UE 334 moves from the illustrated location in cell 304 into cell306, a serving cell change (SCC) or handover may occur in whichcommunication with the UE 334 transitions from the cell 304, which maybe referred to as the source cell, to cell 306, which may be referred toas the target cell. Management of the handover procedure may take placeat the UE 334, at the Node Bs corresponding to the respective cells, ata radio network controller 206 (see FIG. 6), or at another suitable nodein the wireless network. For example, during a call with the source cell304, or at any other time, the UE 334 may monitor various parameters ofthe source cell 304 as well as various parameters of neighboring cellssuch as cells 306 and 302. Further, depending on the quality of theseparameters, the UE 334 may maintain communication with one or more ofthe neighboring cells. During this time, the UE 334 may maintain anActive Set, that is, a list of cells that the UE 334 is simultaneouslyconnected to (i.e., the UTRA cells that are currently assigning adownlink dedicated physical channel DPCH or fractional downlinkdedicated physical channel F-DPCH to the UE 334 may constitute theActive Set).

The modulation and multiple access scheme employed by the access network300 may vary depending on the particular telecommunications standardbeing deployed. By way of example, the standard may includeEvolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB). EV-DOand UMB are air interface standards promulgated by the 3rd GenerationPartnership Project 2 (3GPP2) as part of the CDMA2000 family ofstandards and employs CDMA to provide broadband Internet access tomobile stations. The standard may alternately be Universal TerrestrialRadio Access (UTRA) employing Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and other variantsof CDMA, such as TD-SCDMA; Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)employing TDMA; and Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB),IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20 , and Flash-OFDM employing OFDMA. UTRA,E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE Advanced, and GSM are described in documents fromthe 3GPP organization. CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents fromthe 3GPP2 organization. The actual wireless communication standard andthe multiple access technology employed will depend on the specificapplication and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

The radio protocol architecture may take on various forms depending onthe particular application. An example for an HSPA system will now bepresented with reference to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagramillustrating an example of the radio protocol architecture for the userand control planes.

Referring to FIG. 8, the radio protocol architecture for the UE and NodeB is shown with three layers: Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3. Layer 1 isthe lowest lower and implements various physical layer signal processingfunctions. Layer 1 will be referred to herein as the physical layer 406.Layer 2 (L2 layer) 408 is above the physical layer 406 and isresponsible for the link between the UE and Node B over the physicallayer 406. For example, the UE corresponding to the radio protocolarchitecture of FIG. 8 may be specially programmed or otherwiseconfigured to operate as UE 12, Node B 14, etc., as described above.

In the user plane, the L2 layer 408 includes a media access control(MAC) sublayer 410, a radio link control (RLC) sublayer 412, and apacket data convergence protocol (PDCP) 414 sublayer, which areterminated at the node B on the network side. Although not shown, the UEmay have several upper layers above the L2 layer 408 including a networklayer (e.g., IP layer) that is terminated at a PDN gateway on thenetwork side, and an application layer that is terminated at the otherend of the connection (e.g., far end UE, server, etc.).

The PDCP sublayer 414 provides multiplexing between different radiobearers and logical channels. The PDCP sublayer 414 also provides headercompression for upper layer data packets to reduce radio transmissionoverhead, security by ciphering the data packets, and handover supportfor UEs between node Bs. The RLC sublayer 412 provides segmentation andreassembly of upper layer data packets, retransmission of lost datapackets, and reordering of data packets to compensate for out-of-orderreception due to hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). The MACsublayer 410 provides multiplexing between logical and transportchannels. The MAC sublayer 410 is also responsible for allocating thevarious radio resources (e.g., resource blocks) in one cell among theUEs. The MAC sublayer 410 is also responsible for HARQ operations.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a system 500 including a Node B 510 incommunication with a UE 550. For example, UE 550 may be speciallyprogrammed or otherwise configured to operate as UE 12 (FIG. 1), and/orNode B 510 as Node B 14 (FIG. 1), as described above. Further, forexample, the Node B 510 may be the Node B 208 in FIG. 6, and the UE 550may be the UE 210 in FIG. 9. In the downlink communication, a transmitprocessor 520 may receive data from a data source 512 and controlsignals from a controller/processor 540. The transmit processor 520provides various signal processing functions for the data and controlsignals, as well as reference signals (e.g., pilot signals). Forexample, the transmit processor 520 may provide cyclic redundancy check(CRC) codes for error detection, coding and interleaving to facilitateforward error correction (FEC), mapping to signal constellations basedon various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK),quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK),M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM), and the like), spreading withorthogonal variable spreading factors (OVSF), and multiplying withscrambling codes to produce a series of symbols. Channel estimates froma channel processor 544 may be used by a controller/processor 540 todetermine the coding, modulation, spreading, and/or scrambling schemesfor the transmit processor 520. These channel estimates may be derivedfrom a reference signal transmitted by the UE 550 or from feedback fromthe UE 550. The symbols generated by the transmit processor 520 areprovided to a transmit frame processor 530 to create a frame structure.The transmit frame processor 530 creates this frame structure bymultiplexing the symbols with information from the controller/processor540, resulting in a series of frames. The frames are then provided to atransmitter 532, which provides various signal conditioning functionsincluding amplifying, filtering, and modulating the frames onto acarrier for downlink transmission over the wireless medium throughantenna 534. The antenna 534 may include one or more antennas, forexample, including beam steering bidirectional adaptive antenna arraysor other similar beam technologies.

At the UE 550, a receiver 554 receives the downlink transmission throughan antenna 552 and processes the transmission to recover the informationmodulated onto the carrier. The information recovered by the receiver554 is provided to a receive frame processor 560, which parses eachframe, and provides information from the frames to a channel processor594 and the data, control, and reference signals to a receive processor570. The receive processor 570 then performs the inverse of theprocessing performed by the transmit processor 520 in the Node B 510.More specifically, the receive processor 570 descrambles and despreadsthe symbols, and then determines the most likely signal constellationpoints transmitted by the Node B 510 based on the modulation scheme.These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by thechannel processor 594. The soft decisions are then decoded anddeinterleaved to recover the data, control, and reference signals. TheCRC codes are then checked to determine whether the frames weresuccessfully decoded. The data carried by the successfully decodedframes will then be provided to a data sink 572, which representsapplications running in the UE 550 and/or various user interfaces (e.g.,display). Control signals carried by successfully decoded frames will beprovided to a controller/processor 590. When frames are unsuccessfullydecoded by the receiver processor 570, the controller/processor 590 mayalso use an acknowledgement (ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK)protocol to support retransmission requests for those frames.

In the uplink, data from a data source 578 and control signals from thecontroller/processor 590 are provided to a transmit processor 580. Thedata source 578 may represent applications running in the UE 550 andvarious user interfaces (e.g., keyboard). Similar to the functionalitydescribed in connection with the downlink transmission by the Node B510, the transmit processor 580 provides various signal processingfunctions including CRC codes, coding and interleaving to facilitateFEC, mapping to signal constellations, spreading with OVSFs, andscrambling to produce a series of symbols. Channel estimates, derived bythe channel processor 594 from a reference signal transmitted by theNode B 510 or from feedback contained in the midamble transmitted by theNode B 510, may be used to select the appropriate coding, modulation,spreading, and/or scrambling schemes. The symbols produced by thetransmit processor 580 will be provided to a transmit frame processor582 to create a frame structure. The transmit frame processor 582creates this frame structure by multiplexing the symbols withinformation from the controller/processor 590, resulting in a series offrames. The frames are then provided to a transmitter 556, whichprovides various signal conditioning functions including amplification,filtering, and modulating the frames onto a carrier for uplinktransmission over the wireless medium through the antenna 552.

The uplink transmission is processed at the Node B 510 in a mannersimilar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 550. A receiver 535 receives the uplink transmission through theantenna 534 and processes the transmission to recover the informationmodulated onto the carrier. The information recovered by the receiver535 is provided to a receive frame processor 536, which parses eachframe, and provides information from the frames to the channel processor544 and the data, control, and reference signals to a receive processor538. The receive processor 538 performs the inverse of the processingperformed by the transmit processor 580 in the UE 550. The data andcontrol signals carried by the successfully decoded frames may then beprovided to a data sink 539 and the controller/processor, respectively.If some of the frames were unsuccessfully decoded by the receiveprocessor, the controller/processor 540 may also use an acknowledgement(ACK) and/or negative acknowledgement (NACK) protocol to supportretransmission requests for those frames.

The controller/processors 540 and 590 may be used to direct theoperation at the Node B 510 and the UE 550, respectively. For example,the controller/processors 540 and 590 may provide various functionsincluding timing, peripheral interfaces, voltage regulation, powermanagement, and other control functions. In some aspects, thecontroller/processors 540 and 590 may be implemented by processingsystem 114, shown in FIG. 5, as processors 104. As described above,processors 104 may be configured to implement, in conjunction with othercomponents, the functions of components 18, 20, and 22 of UE 12 and/orthe functions of components 24, 26, and 28 of Node B 14. The computerreadable media of memories 542 and 592 may store data and software forthe Node B 510 and the UE 550, respectively. A scheduler/processor 546at the Node B 510 may be used to allocate resources to the UEs andschedule downlink and/or uplink transmissions for the UEs.

Several aspects of a telecommunications system have been presented withreference to a W-CDMA system. As those skilled in the art will readilyappreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may beextended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures andcommunication standards.

By way of example, various aspects may be extended to other UMTS systemssuch as TD-SCDMA, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High SpeedUplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) andTD-CDMA. Various aspects may also be extended to systems employing LongTerm Evolution (LTE) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)(in FDD, TDD, or both modes), CDMA2000 , Evolution-Data Optimized(EV-DO), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and/or other suitable systems. Theactual telecommunication standard, network architecture, and/orcommunication standard employed will depend on the specific applicationand the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

In accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, an element, or anyportion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implementedwith a “processing system” that includes one or more processors asshown, for example, in FIG. 5. Examples of processors includemicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs),field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices(PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, andother suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionalitydescribed throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in theprocessing system may execute software. Software shall be construedbroadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments,program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications,software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines,objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc.,whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode,hardware description language, or otherwise. The software may reside ona computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may be anon-transitory computer-readable medium. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium includes, by way of example, a magnetic storagedevice (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strip), an optical disk(e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD)), a smart card, aflash memory device (e.g., card, stick, key drive), random access memory(RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM(EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), a register, a removabledisk, and any other suitable medium for storing software and/orinstructions that may be accessed and read by a computer. Thecomputer-readable medium may also include, by way of example, a carrierwave, a transmission line, and any other suitable medium fortransmitting software and/or instructions that may be accessed and readby a computer. The computer-readable medium may be resident in theprocessing system, external to the processing system, or distributedacross multiple entities including the processing system. Thecomputer-readable medium may be embodied in a computer-program product.By way of example, a computer-program product may include acomputer-readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in theart will recognize how best to implement the described functionalitypresented throughout this disclosure depending on the particularapplication and the overall design constraints imposed on the overallsystem.

It is to be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps inthe methods disclosed is an illustration of exemplary processes. Basedupon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order orhierarchy of steps in the methods may be rearranged. The accompanyingmethod claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order,and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchypresented unless specifically recited therein.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.”

Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers toone or more. A phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of itemsrefers to any combination of those items, including single members. Asan example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a; b; c;a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, b and c. All structural and functionalequivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughoutthis disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those ofordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by referenceand are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothingdisclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless ofwhether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claimelement is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112 ,sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using thephrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, the element isrecited using the phrase “step for. ”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for communicating using multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) in a wireless network, comprising: receiving oneor more scheduling grants from a Node B relating to a plurality ofuplink streams in MIMO; determining a primary transmit power and aprimary transport block size (TBS) for a primary stream of the pluralityof uplink streams; determining a secondary transmit power and asecondary TBS for a secondary stream of the plurality of uplink streams;and selecting an enhanced traffic format combination (E-TFC) fortransmitting over a configuration of the plurality of uplink streamsbased on the one or more scheduling grants, wherein the E-TFC has a setof associated states indicating whether a plurality of possible payloadsare each supported or blocked over the configuration of the plurality ofuplink streams, wherein the determining the primary TBS and thesecondary TBS is based in part on the set of associated states, whereinthe set of associated states comprise: a first state indicating whetherthe E-TFC is supported on the primary stream when both the primarystream and the secondary stream are transmitted; a second stateindicating whether the E-TFC is supported on the secondary stream; and athird state indicating whether the E-TFC is supported on the primarystream when only the primary stream is transmitted.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein if the secondary stream is not transmitted, the powerallocated to the secondary stream is usable by the primary stream. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein if the secondary stream is nottransmitted, the power allocated to the secondary stream is not usableby the primary stream.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining to transmit data over the primary stream and not thesecondary stream, wherein the set of associated states indicates thesecondary stream is blocked.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the setof associated states indicates the secondary stream is blocked based ona determination that the secondary TBS is less than a minimum secondaryTBS for the secondary stream.
 6. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising transmitting a secondary pilot for the secondary stream at apower which is offset to a pilot power of the primary stream.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a minimum E-TFC setfor the primary stream wherein all of the E-TFCs in the minimum E-TFCset are supported.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprisingtransmitting data for the secondary stream on a hybrid automaticrepeat/request (HARQ) index k+N, where k is a HARQ index for the primarystream, and N is a number of HARQ processes in a frame.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the retransmitting the data for the primary stream usesthe same TBS.
 10. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmittingnew data over the primary stream while retransmitting the data for thesecondary stream, wherein the retransmitting the data for the secondarystream uses the same secondary TBS.
 11. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising updating the scheduled grant for at least the secondarystream based on the retransmitting.
 12. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising applying hybrid automatic repeat/request (HARQ) interlaceactivation or deactivation for the primary stream and the secondarystream.
 13. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving aprimary serving grant update for the primary stream related to the dataretransmitted over HARQ index k+N, and a secondary serving grant updatefor the secondary stream related to other data retransmitted over HARQindex k.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: determiningthat the secondary stream is smaller than a minimum TBS; and applying azero grant to the secondary stream.
 15. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising applying a non-scheduled grant across the primary stream andthe secondary stream.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the applyingcomprises allocating a portion of the non-scheduled grant up to theprimary TBS to the primary stream before allocating a remaining portionof the non-scheduled grant to the secondary stream.
 17. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the determining the primary transmit power for theprimary stream is based on the portion of the non-scheduled grant, andthe determining the secondary transmit power for the secondary stream isbased on the remaining portion of the non-scheduled grant.
 18. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: determining to transmit data overthe primary stream and applying the same power to the secondary stream;and implementing power scaling on the primary stream.
 19. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining to transmit data over theprimary stream and the secondary stream; computing a power need for eachof the primary stream and the secondary stream; and implementing powerscaling based on the computed power need.
 20. The method of claim 19,further comprising: giving priority to one of the primary stream or thesecondary stream that is performing a retransmission.
 21. The method ofclaim 19, further comprising: giving equal priority to the primarystream and the secondary stream.
 22. The method of claim 19, furthercomprising: computing the power need for both the primary stream and thesecondary stream based on at least one of a T2P/TBS of a retransmissionon the primary stream and a related scheduling grant on the primarystream.
 23. The method of claim 19, wherein implementing the powerscaling is based on the larger power across the primary stream and thesecondary stream.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein implementing thepower scaling comprising: computing a power scaling for the primarystream based on the T2P/TBS for retransmission or on a relatedscheduling grant; computing a power scaling for the secondary streambased on the T2P/TBBS of a scheduling grant for a new transmission orbased on a previous power or previous scheduling grant when the datastarted for a retransmission; and selecting a maximum of the computedpower scaling for the primary stream and the computed power scaling ofthe secondary stream as the power scaling for both streams.
 25. Anapparatus for communicating using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)in a wireless network, comprising: means for receiving one or morescheduling grants from a Node B relating to a plurality of uplinkstreams in MIMO; means for determining a primary transmit power and aprimary transport block size (TBS) for a primary stream of the pluralityof uplink streams; means for determining a secondary transmit power anda secondary TBS for a secondary stream of the plurality of uplinkstreams; and means for selecting an enhanced traffic format combination(E-TFC) for transmitting over a configuration of the plurality of uplinkstreams based on the one or more scheduling grants, wherein the E-TFChas a set of associated states indicating whether a plurality ofpossible payloads are each supported or blocked over the configurationof the plurality of uplink streams, wherein the determining the primaryTBS and the secondary TBS is based in part on the set of associatedstates, wherein the set of associated states comprise: a first stateindicating whether the E-TFC is supported on the primary stream whenboth the primary stream and the secondary stream are transmitted; asecond state indicating whether the E-TFC is supported on the secondarystream; and a third state indicating whether the E-TFC is supported onthe primary stream when only the primary stream is transmitted.
 26. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium for communicating usingmultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) in a wireless network comprisingcode for causing a computer to: receive one or more scheduling grantsfrom a Node B relating to a plurality of uplink streams in MIMO;determine a primary transmit power and a primary transport block size(TBS) for a primary stream of the plurality of uplink streams; determinea secondary transmit power and a secondary TBS for a secondary stream ofthe plurality of uplink streams; and select an enhanced traffic formatcombination (E-TFC) for transmitting over a configuration of theplurality of uplink streams based on the one or more scheduling grants,wherein the E-TFC has a set of associated states indicating whether aplurality of possible payloads are each supported or blocked over theconfiguration of the plurality of uplink streams, wherein thedetermining the primary TBS and the secondary TBS is based in part onthe set of associated states, wherein the set of associated statescomprise: a first state indicating whether the E-TFC is supported on theprimary stream when both the primary stream and the secondary stream aretransmitted; a second state indicating whether the E-TFC is supported onthe secondary stream; and a third state indicating whether the E-TFC issupported on the primary stream when only the primary stream istransmitted.
 27. An apparatus for communicating using multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) in a wireless network, comprising: at least oneprocessor configured to: receive one or more scheduling grants from aNode B relating to a plurality of uplink streams in MIMO; determine aprimary transmit power and a primary transport block size (TBS) for aprimary stream of the plurality of uplink streams; determine a secondarytransmit power and a secondary TBS for a secondary stream of theplurality of uplink streams; and select an enhanced traffic formatcombination (E-TFC) for transmitting over a configuration of theplurality of uplink streams based on the one or more scheduling grants,wherein the E-TFC has a set of associated states indicating whether aplurality of possible payloads are each supported or blocked over theconfiguration of the plurality of uplink streams, wherein thedetermining the primary TBS and the secondary TBS is based in part onthe set of associated states, wherein the set of associated statescomprise: a first state indicating whether the E-TFC is supported on theprimary stream when both the primary stream and the secondary stream aretransmitted; a second state indicating whether the E-TFC is supported onthe secondary stream; and a third state indicating whether the E-TFC issupported on the primary stream when only the primary stream istransmitted.
 28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein if the secondarystream is not transmitted, the power allocated to the secondary streamis usable by the primary stream.
 29. The apparatus of claim 27, whereinif the secondary stream is not transmitted, the power allocated to thesecondary stream is not usable by the primary stream.
 30. The apparatusof claim 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured todetermine to transmit data over the primary stream and not the secondarystream, wherein the set of associated states indicates the secondarystream is blocked.
 31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the set ofassociated states indicates the secondary stream is blocked based on adetermination that the secondary TBS is less than a minimum secondaryTBS for the secondary stream.
 32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein theat least one processor is further configured to transmit a secondarypilot for the secondary stream at a power which is offset to a pilotpower of the primary stream.
 33. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein theat least one processor is further configured to maintain a minimum E-TFCset for the primary stream wherein all of the E-TFCs in the minimumE-TFC set are supported.
 34. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to transmit data for thesecondary stream on a hybrid automatic repeat/request (HARQ) index k+N,where k is a HARQ index for the primary stream, and N is a number ofHARQ processes in a frame.
 35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein theretransmitting the data for the primary stream uses the same TBS. 36.The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to transmit new data over the primary stream whileretransmitting the data for the secondary stream, wherein theretransmitting the data for the secondary stream uses the same secondaryTBS.
 37. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one processoris further configured to update the scheduled grant for at least thesecondary stream based on the retransmitting.
 38. The apparatus of claim34, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to applyhybrid automatic repeat/request (HARQ) interlace activation ordeactivation for the primary stream and the secondary stream.
 39. Theapparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to receive a primary serving grant update for the primarystream related to the data retransmitted over HARQ index k+N, and asecondary serving grant update for the secondary stream related to otherdata retransmitted over HARQ index k.
 40. The apparatus of claim 39,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determinethat the secondary stream is smaller than a minimum TBS; and apply azero grant to the secondary stream.
 41. The apparatus of claim 27,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to apply anon-scheduled grant across the primary stream and the secondary stream.42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the applying comprises allocatinga portion of the non-scheduled grant up to the primary TBS to theprimary stream before allocating a remaining portion of thenon-scheduled grant to the secondary stream.
 43. The apparatus of claim41, wherein the determining the primary transmit power for the primarystream is based on the portion of the non-scheduled grant, and thedetermining the secondary transmit power for the secondary stream isbased on the remaining portion of the non-scheduled grant.
 44. Theapparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: determine to transmit data over the primary stream andapplying the same power to the secondary stream; and implement powerscaling on the primary stream.
 45. The apparatus of claim 27, whereinthe at least one processor is further configured to: determine totransmit data over the primary stream and the secondary stream; computea power need for each of the primary stream and the secondary stream;and implement power scaling based on the computed power need.
 46. Theapparatus of claim 45, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: give priority to one of the primary stream or thesecondary stream that is performing a retransmission.
 47. The apparatusof claim 45, wherein the at least one processor is further configuredto: give equal priority to the primary stream and the secondary stream.48. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to: compute the power need for both the primarystream and the secondary stream based on at least one of a T2P/TBS of aretransmission on the primary stream and a related scheduling grant onthe primary stream.
 49. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein implementingthe power scaling is based on the larger power across the primary streamand the secondary stream.
 50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein whenimplementing the power scaling the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: compute a power scaling for the primary stream based onthe T2P/TBS for retransmission or on a related scheduling grant; computea power scaling for the secondary stream based on the T2P/TBBS of ascheduling grant for a new transmission or based on a previous power orprevious scheduling grant when the data started for a retransmission;and select a maximum of the computed power scaling for the primarystream and the computed power scaling of the secondary stream as thepower scaling for both streams.